Factors influencing return to work 3 months after percutaneous coronary intervention in young and middle-aged patients with coronary heart disease: A single-center, cross-sectional study

by Yaoyao Hu, Taihua Zhou, Xiaojing Li, Xiaoxiao Chen, Xiaoyan Wang, Jiahui Xu, Danfeng Gu

Today, patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) are becoming younger and younger, and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), most patients want to resume their occupations. The return to work of patients with CHD post PCI in China, however, has received little research attention. So, the goal of this study was to investigate the variables impacting the return to work following PCI in young and middle-aged patients with CHD in Wuxi and to offer a reference basis for the development of targeted interventions.

This study was executed at the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University. We selected 280 young and middle-aged patients who underwent PCI for CHD as the study subjects and gathered general data about them while they were hospitalized. At 3 months after PCI, we surveyed the subjects with the return to work self-efficacy questionnaire, the Chinese version of the brief fatigue inventory, and the social support rating scale, and obtained information about their return to work. The factors affecting patients’ returning to work were analyzed using binary logistic regression.

The final 255 cases were included in the study, of which 155 (60.8%) were successfully returned to work. Binary logistic regression showed that women (OR = 0.379, 95%CI:0.169,0.851), ejection fraction ≥50% (OR = 2.053, 95%CI:1.085,3.885), the brain-based job types (OR = 2.902, 95%CI:1.361,6.190), the kind of employment requiring both mental and physical capacity (OR = 2.867, 95%CI:1.224,6.715), moderate fatigue (OR = 6.023, 95%:1.596,22.7251), mild fatigue (OR = 4.035, 95%:1.104,14.751), return to work efficacy (OR = 1.839, 95%:1.140,3.144), and social support (OR = 1.060, 95%:1.003,1.121) were independent influences on patients’ return to work at 3 months after PCI (All P<0.05).

In order to help patient return to work as soon as possible, healthcare professionals should focus on those who are female, have worked mainly in physical activities, have low return-to-work self-efficacy, have severe fatigue, have low social support, and have poor ejection fraction.